Feb. 27, 2015

Op-Ed article by sex educator Emily Nagoski holds drug flibanserin, intended to treat low sex drive in women, is based on flawed premise; notes FDA has rejected drug twice and will likely reject it third time due to safety and efficacy concerns; says what is needed in most cases of women who lack desire is better understanding of one's own sexuality and acceptance of differences; says in pathologizing normal behavior, drug causes more harm than good. MORE

Feb. 26, 2015

Nationwide effort is underway to use so-called basket studies that lump different kinds of cancer patients together to test efficacy of cancer drugs that block gene mutations rather than treat organ where disease originated; researchers say this new potentially revolutionary method, which is much faster to implement than traditional studies, could help treat seriously ill patients quicker by speeding up drug's approval process. MORE

Feb. 25, 2015

Study conducted by AIDS expert Dr Wafaa M El-Sadr finds that cash incentives have been ineffective in motivating patients to adhere to their HIV medication regimen. MORE

Feb. 25, 2015

Some critics say drug maker Shire is going too far in its marketing of Vyvanse, amphetamine-based drug that was recently approved to treat binge-eating disorder; Shire spent years before approval shaping public perception and diagnosis of binge-eating disorder, much as it did with ADHD in the past; controversy highlights marketing strategy that has yielded billions in profits and that many say presents public danger. MORE

Feb. 19, 2015

Study published in New England Journal of Medicine finds that drugs Eylea, Lucentis and Avastin are equally effective as treatments for form of vision loss caused by diabetes, although prices for drugs range from $50 to $1,950 per dose; study comes at time of concern over costs of pharmaceuticals. MORE

Feb. 12, 2015

Editorial hails Food and Drug Administration's proposed simplified process for doctors to get experimental drugs for critically ill patients; holds their patients suffering life-threatening illnesses can only benefit from plan. MORE

Feb. 11, 2015

Studies indicate doctors who dispense drugs as well as prescribe them have begun exploiting loopholes to circumvent state crackdowns on their practices; one tactic involves prescribing novel dosages to get around cost controls on traditional ones, making significantly higher profit despite lack of proof that new dosages work better; trend is particularly prominent among doctors who treat workers for pain. MORE

Feb. 5, 2015

In its offer to buy Hospira, Pfizer is paying richly for what it believes will be a lucrative source of future revenue, drugs known as biosimilars. MORE

Feb. 5, 2015

Study conducted on Ebola patients in Guinea show flu-treatment drug favipiravir is promising in cutting mortality rates in half for Ebola patients who have low to moderate levels of disease in their blood; many researchers and health authorities wonder who outside the study should be given drug, made by Japanese company Toyama Chemical, and whether its reported success will delay testing of or complicate other treatments. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

Feb. 3, 2015

Institute for Safe Medication Practices study finds only about 50 percent of reports of dangerous side effects submitted by drug makers meet basic standards for completeness; Food and Drug Administration uses information to track problems with medications once they enter marketplace. MORE

Jan. 31, 2015

Op-Ed article by Joseph E Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics, warns that influence of pharmaceutical companies on Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations may result in higher drug prices worldwide and less innovation; notes that companies are seeking to keep or expand their monopolies on brand-name drugs by restricting competition from generics and undermining government regulation of drug prices. MORE

Jan. 31, 2015

Food and Drug Admin approves use of attention-deficit disorder drug Vyvanse as treatment for binge-eating disorder. MORE

Jan. 29, 2015

Harvard researchers publish study in The New England Journal of Medicine that shows that quarter of plans on new health care exchanges may be putting HIV and AIDS drugs in tier that requires patients to pay at least 30 percent of drug's cost; practice makes drugs too expensive for many patients, and is illegal under health care reform law. MORE

Jan. 27, 2015

Oklahoma officials ask Supreme Court to delay execution of three death row inmates until court decides on constitutionality of state's lethal injection method; critics say some states executing prisoners are using drugs that cause intense suffering. MORE

Jan. 27, 2015

Dr Stephen M Rich study in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that whole, dried artemisia plants, base ingredient of anti-malarial drug artemisinin, work better to prevent malaria than drug does. MORE

Jan. 21, 2015

Supreme Court rules that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries could continue to benefit from patent protection from its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone, sending case back to federal appeals court for revaluation; decision deals blow to generic competitors. MORE

Jan. 19, 2015

Biotech industry is riding unprecedented wave of soaring stock prices and high rate of drug approvals, but executives and investors remain divided in their opinion of its future; some argue that industry has turned a corner in which high failure rate of new drugs has permanently declined, and that Big Pharma is set to take on new set of illnesses for first time; others remain skeptical, citing imminent bubble. MORE

Jan. 17, 2015

Aetna completes agreement with pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences that will allow it to offer new hepatitis C treatment at a discounted rate to its nearly 11 million commercial customers. MORE

Jan. 15, 2015

Food and Drug Administration says one person died and many others were sickened after infusions of non-sterile saline solution made by San Diego-based company Wallcur; cases have been reported in seven states. MORE

Jan. 15, 2015

Op-Ed article by Dr Peter B Bach discusses problem of costs of high-priced drugs being passed on to patients; suggests either insurance companies and government programs be free from having to include all expensive drugs in their plans, or insist that drug prices be equal to lower European prices. MORE

Jan. 12, 2015

Op-Ed article by endocrinologist Kasia Lipska warns treatment for Type 2 diabetes among elderly Americans may be too aggressive, putting them at risk of severe hypoglycemia, bad drug interactions and other complications; contends influence of drug industry may be partly to blame for problem; calls for elimination of catch-all blood sugar target of 7 in favor of case-by-case evaluation of patients. MORE

Jan. 11, 2015

Several states have passed Right to Try laws, which allow critically ill patients right to try medications that have not been approved by Food and Drug Administration; some physicians oppose laws, saying they and experimental drugs are more likely to harm than help critically ill patients. MORE

Jan. 10, 2015

World Health Organization adviser Dr Helen Rees says developing and testing Ebola vaccines and their effectiveness may become more difficult as outbreak comes under greater control; two vaccines have been determined to be safe enough in tests taking place in countries outside outbreak zones, but dosages have not been calibrated and it is not known if they are effective in Africa's most heavily impacted countries. MORE

Jan. 10, 2015

Large pharmaceutical companies and start-ups are trying to come up with treatments for ear disorders, area of study that has been largely ignored, despite huge need; ear treatments are difficult to develop, mainly due to the complexity of the ear anatomy, but potential financial gains are driving research. MORE

Jan. 9, 2015

Ohio may delay several executions as it switches lethal drugs used for procedure, in wake of botched execution of Dennis McGuire in 2014. MORE

Jan. 8, 2015

The Upshot; ProPublica analysis of information contained in database known as Open Payments shows that drugs most aggressively marketed to doctors are not typically cures or medical breakthroughs, but new drugs that manufacturers hope will gain foothold; analysis is first comprehensive examination of how much money drug companies have spent in working with doctors. MORE

Jan. 8, 2015

Food and Drug Administration panel recommends approval of EP2006, more affordable version of cancer therapy drug Neupogen, also called filgrastim; if FDA acts on recommendation it will create era of competition for so-called biologic drugs, which are made out of living cells rather than synthesized from chemicals. MORE

Jan. 6, 2015

Op-Ed article by journalist Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones opposes the rise of so-called 'venture philanthropy' in the pharmaceutical industry; calls it yet another term for privatizing scientific research; holds trend introduces tax-exempt loophole, allowing organizations to develop drugs on publicly funded research and then sell results to private industry; calls for increased funding to the National Institutes of Health, and for rule that would prevent venture philanthropists from obtaining exclusive patent rights. MORE

Jan. 6, 2015

Dec. 24, 2014

Food and Drug Administration approves Novo Nordisk diabetes drug liraglutide as a treatment for obesity, first injectable drug approved for weight loss; drug will be marketed under brand name Saxenda. MORE

Dec. 23, 2014

Federal Judge Stephen P Friot ends Oklahoma's moratorium on executions, in place since bungled execution of Clayton D Lockett in April 2014; says mizadolam, drug used in Lockett's execution, should not be considered experimental because it has been used successfully in executions elsewhere; prolonged executions of Lockett and Joseph Wood in Arizona led to questions about reliability of lethal injection. MORE

Dec. 23, 2014

Obama administration will investigate health insurance plans to determine if they are discriminatory against people with AIDS, mental illness or other costly chronic conditions, and against people of certain age; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will focus on companies that participate in federal insurance marketplace; administration issues rules requiring insurers to improve accuracy of publications listing their doctors and hospitals. MORE

Dec. 23, 2014

Lawsuit filed by advocacy group Consumer Watchdog against health insurer Aetna claims that it discriminated against people with HIV by requiring patients to obtain drugs only from its mail-order policy, violating health care reform law; many insurers have placed restrictions on specific drugs or increased out-of-pocket costs for drugs in response to rising costs; industry claims that mail-order pharmacies keep costs and premiums down. MORE

Dec. 22, 2014

Express Scripts, nation's largest prescription manager, will require all hepatitis patients to use AbbVie's new approved hepatitis C drug instead of two widely used expensive medicines from its rival Gilead Sciences after negotiating significant discount in price; had threatened to boycott Gilead's drugs because of their high prices. MORE

Dec. 20, 2014

AbbVie's new treatment for hepatitis C, regimen known as Viekira Pak, wins approval from Food and Drug Administration; drug will cost $83,919 for typical 12-week course of therapy, which is higher wholesale price than many hoped, and will probably not drive down costs of two competing drugs from Gilead Sciences. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

Federal government charges Barry J Cadden and Glenn A Chin, New England Compounding Center executives, with 25 acts of second-degree murder in seven states; charges are in connection with production of tainted drugs that killed 64 people and sickened hundreds of others across United States with fungal meningitis in 2012; 14 people are charged in 131-count indictment, many of them pharmacists at now-closed company. MORE

Dec. 12, 2014

Federal Judge Robert W Sweet in Manhattan blocks attempt by Actavis to end sales of older type of its Alzheimer's disease drug Namenda and replace it with newer version with longer patent life; New York State Atty Gen Eric T Schneiderman had accused company of forcing patients to switch to new version to stop generic competition. MORE

Dec. 10, 2014

Small studies at prestigious medical centers suggest that ketamine, anesthetic widely abused as a club drug, can relieve depression in many people who are not helped by conventional antidepressants; some psychiatrists express alarm that clinics are springing up to offer ketamine treatments for depression; pharmaceutical companies are aiming to develop drugs that work like ketamine but without side effects. MORE

Dec. 9, 2014

Spate of news stories about so-called date-rape drugs has some researchers questioning why sexual predators, especially those who would otherwise have seemingly easy access to consensual sex, resort to drugging their victims. MORE

Dec. 7, 2014

Research published online by New England Journal of Medicine Researchers finds that drugs that free body’s immune system to fight cancer, known as PD-1 inhibitors, have shown strong preliminary results in treating Hodgkin’s lymphoma, shrinking tumors in well over half of patients who have exhausted many other treatment options. MORE

Dec. 4, 2014

Food and Drug Administration updates system of how drug companies must explain dangers of taking medicine during pregnancy and while breast-feeding; doctors say current system, developed in 1970s and using letters of alphabet to indicate levels of risk, is too vague. MORE

Dec. 3, 2014

Biotechnology company Biogen Idec is planning a late-stage trial of its experimental treatment for Alzheimer's disease after drug significantly improved cognition in a small early-stage study. MORE

Dec. 2, 2014

Silicon Valley security company FireEye reports group of cybercriminals have been hacking email of more than 100 organizations, most of them publicly traded health care or pharmaceutical companies; stolen information could give hackers market edge in pharmaceutical industry and could significantly affect stock prices; says hackers appear to be native English speakers who are fluent in Wall Street lingo. MORE

Dec. 2, 2014

Access to Medicine Index reports that, for fourth time, GlaxoSmithKline tops its list ranking pharmaceutical companies by how effectively they help the world’s poor get needed medicines. MORE

Dec. 1, 2014

Police departments nationwide have begun carrying naloxone, medication that reverses effects of heroin or opioid painkiller overdose, but soaring prices are raising alarm about future of distribution programs. MORE

Nov. 26, 2014

Rafael Lopez pleads guilty for covering up and failing to report burglary in which he took part; is last of five men to plead guilty in 2010 prescription drug theft at Eli Lilly warehouse in Enfield, Conn. MORE

Nov. 25, 2014

State and federal lawmakers are searching for ways to help patients struggling to pay high cost of drugs; prices of common generic medicines have jumped 500 percent or more in past 18 months, and continue to soar. MORE

{"type":"article","show_header_text":false,"header":"ARTICLES ABOUT DRUGS (PHARMACEUTICALS)","query":"(des=\"DRUGS (PHARMACEUTICALS)\") and tom!=\"Caption\" and tom!=\"Correction\" and tom!=\"List\" and tom!=\"Paid Death Notice\" and dsk!=\"Society\"","search_query":"(subject:\"DRUGS \\(PHARMACEUTICALS\\)\") AND -type_of_material:\"Caption\" AND -type_of_material:\"Correction\" AND -type_of_material:\"List\" AND -type_of_material:\"Paid Death Notice\" AND -news_desk:\"Society\"","num_search_articles":"15","show_summary":true,"show_byline":true,"show_pub_date":true,"hide_thumbnails":false,"show_kicker":false,"show_title":false,"show_related_topics":true,"show_rad_links":true,"show_subtopics":true,"exclude_topics":"DRUGS (PHARMACEUTICALS)","more_on_header":"MORE ON DRUGS (PHARMACEUTICALS) AND:","alternate_index_subidx":"","show_thumbnails":true}

Multimedia

Nowhere has the battle been more intense over the last year than in Louisiana, where groups aligned with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and major pharmaceutical companies and the business community teamed up to push the State Legislature to crack down on the hiring of outside lawyers by the attorney general.